An immigrant's journey to becoming a White House Executive: my interview with José Rico

I
recently interviewed one such individual who shared with me his hardships in
coming to America, and how the mentors in his life and his passion for
education helped him go from being placed in special education classes because
he spoke Spanish to his appointment to the position of executive director of
the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics.

José Rico moved
from Mexico to Chicago with his family when he was seven years old. His
elementary school did not have a bilingual education program; thus, he was put
in special education classes because no one knew how to communicate with
him.

It's easy to understand why,
as a child, José "hated school."

He shuffled along in classes
without learning much. "There weren't a lot of teachers who looked like
me that I, or many of my classmates, could relate to."

"Like most immigrant
parents, my parents got me ready for school everyday and hoped for the best." Unfortunately, it wasn’t just the communication
barriers made it very difficult to bridge the gaps. There were low expectations and a misunderstanding of Latino
families.

"The school would send
letters home in English, but my parents couldn't read them. My parents’ worked long hours and very
little was done to include them in their children’s education. The biggest parent turnout was during
class picture day. It usually happened towards the end of the school year and signaled
a transition to the next grade. Since
we didn't have money to buy class pictures either, so all of the pictures from
my childhood have the word 'proof' written across my face."

José laughed when he said
this, and so did I.

But he didn't laugh much in
his younger years. School continued to be a struggle as he got older and went
to middle school.

Then, one teacher made a
difference in eighth grade, Mr. Tibitt. José confirms: "If it hadn’t been for him, I
think eighth grade would have been my last year in school."

When
José was in 9th grade, tragedy struck.

José
often walked to school with Ramon, his best friend in South Side of Chicago;
one day, as they made their daily trek, his best friend was suddenly shot
and killed by someone who had wrongly believed José's best friend was a
gang member.

"Unfortunately
that happens too often," José said.

Seeing
his best friend killed before his eyes made school even harder. José was
devastated. However, the tragedy led to the biggest turning point in his
life: His eighth-grade teacher reached out to him again. Seeing José's
struggle, this teacher arranged for José to get transferred to a magnet school—the
kind of school his parents would never have known about.

José excelled in a school
that really supported and guided its students in preparing for college; this is
something José believes was essential in making him the first in his family to
go to college.

Due to this supportive
environment, José did very well in math and science, and scored well on the college
entrance exams. This led to his acceptance at every college his counselor asked
him to apply to, such as Harvard.

However, choosing which
college to attend was "easy" for José. He chose the University of
Illinois because they gave him a guaranteed full ride scholarship. He would have had to pay $3,000 a year to
attend Harvard. At the time, when his family was paying around $1,000 a
year in rent, asking them to spend three-year’s rent in one year for his
education was unimaginable.

José
fell in love with University of Illinois. "The campus is huge and, growing
up in the barrio, it was the nicest
thing I'd ever seen in my life. You only had to share a room with one person;
you could eat whenever you wanted, as much as you wanted; and you had free time
after going to class just three hours a day! I had access to the latest
technology, became friends with people from all over the world and had a world
of possibilities open. I thought I had made it."

But
once again, José found there weren't a lot of professors or students who looked
like him.

"I
started to think: Wow, why don't more Latinos get to experience this privileged
existence? So many of my friends who were smarter and more talented than me and
who were really good people didn’t have the chance to go to college. I wondered:
Why aren't they here too? It became an issue of equity for me."

Indeed,
today, of all Hispanic adults in the U.S. over 25, only 14 percent have a bachelor’s
degree.

One of
the best parts about college is that it can be a place where your thinking expands
and you can discover innovative solutions to the world’s problems. The
best students often take action; that's what José did. He organized students to
fight for a Latino studies program
at the University of Illinois. Today it is one of their hallmark
programs.

José
graduated from college with a degree in engineering. He had chosen the field
because, "Back then, engineering was the way to get to the middle class
and help your family; you could make $50,000 a year, which today would be close
to $100,000."

So he
got an engineering job after college. As José put it: "I was bored."

That
summer, he volunteered to become a math and science tutor for high school
students. "I fell in love with the idea of teaching; I wanted to
contribute to the world by helping kids just like me go to college and have
possibilities."

Much to
the chagrin of his friends and family, José left engineering to become a high
school science teacher in his old Chicago neighborhood.

"I
went back to my old neighborhood because I knew that so many people in my
community come from a world without possibilities; they can't see possibilities
in front of them."

Many
people thought José was crazy for leaving engineering for teaching. "At the highest point in my career I made $19,000
a year."

However,
José had found a passion that was impossible to ignore; because of that,
he brought possibility to this community.

In
addition to being a high school teacher, José started a youth leadership
program that trained students to find the other services they needed to make it
through school (e.g., childcare, summer jobs, legal services, free clinics).
His program caught the attention of Public Allies, where he trained young people
to work in public service.

After
getting two master's degrees and becoming more involved in education training
and access, José participated in a hunger strike to start a new high school:
Chicago's Multicultural Arts High School. He was named
the principal.

In
2009, "My boss Michelle, from Public Allies, called me and said 'Hey do
you want to come to D.C. and do some work with us?’ I said yes."

At this
point I was so rapt with José's story that it wasn't until he talked for
another 60 seconds that I had to interrupted him to ask: "wait, hold on a
second, do you mean the Michelle? Michelle Obama was your boss at
Public Allies?"

He said
yes.

Today
José works for the White House to "ensure that there are more Latinos who go
through the education pipeline successfully so they can receive a quality
preschool education all the way to college." As executive director, he
advises President Obama and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan on education
policies and programs on how to best introduce and incorporate them into the Hispanic
community.

"The
Latino community places a high value on education, but the challenge is the
lack of information, the coordination of resources to support things that work,
and the leadership to make things happen a day-in and day-out ."

José
has seen and heard many success stories, having visited more than 120 cities
across the country to consult with leaders and gather feedback on what these
communities need.

One
such success story involves Mayor Julian Castro, San Antonio, Texas, who made
it a priority to raise the numbers of college graduates from 100,000 a year to
200,000. With a counselor ratio of 420-1, San Antonio has developed an innovative idea—a
place called Café College located in the heart of downtown that provides free resources to help
people get to college.

José
believes many colleges are not equipped to give the support first-generation students
desperately need. He said that both he and I "were lucky, because we had
someone reach out to help us...but we shouldn't have to rely on
that."

This is
so key. The primary reason I wrotemy book was to give students the tools they
need to find those people for themselves. We are so thankful for the teachers
who reach out, and we should all be reaching out. However, we must also
teach students to reach out for themselves, and understand the importance
of having a strong community to help them thrive in college.

I can
honestly say I've never been more personally inspired than when I talked to
José on the phone. There aren't many principles I need to draw out for you
because they are all so poignantly weaved throughout his story—his life.

Notice
the issues in the world around you while you're in college. Latch on to those
that move you. Move forward no matter what people think. Take action. Do what
you do best, and serve.